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O2 data fails, again

Third time in three weeks

Updated O2 UK customers are again being left disconnected, disenfranchised and disillusioned as they struggle to get a data connection for the third time in as many weeks.

O2 tells us that network problems are affecting "some users", but reports from far and wide indicate that the nationwide network is rejecting connections over 3G and 2G services, from Brighton to Liverpool, leaving iPhone owners bereft of their service while everyone else is, again, forced to fall back on speaking to people.

Some of the distraught customers who've contacted claimed they were told that BlackBerries had escaped the outage.

Also escaping the carnage are those who've signed up to O2's Twitter service: free delivery of up to 600 tweets a month over the more-reliable SMS network.

Apparently O2 has already handled more than half a million of them since launching the service last week, which makes sense given the reliability of its data network.

But for those whom the internet is more than a source of tweets will have to find a WiFi connection, or consider moving to a network that takes reliability more seriously than O2 appears to. ®

Bootnote

Thanks to all those Reg readers who've been in touch to tell us about O2's outage.

Update: O2 tells us that everything is tickety boo again, though they've declined to explain what went wrong, or what's to prevent it happening next time.